An MRI equipment is expensive. 1.5 tesla scanners often cost between US$1 million and US$1.5 million. 3.0 tesla scanners often cost between US$2 million and US$2.3 million. Construction of MRI suites can cost up to US$500,000, or more, depending on project scope. In France, the cost of an MRI exam is approximately 150 Euros. This covers three basic scans including one with an intravenous contrast agent, as well as a consultation with the technician and a written report to the patient’s physician.

MRI provides good imagesbetween the different tissuesof the body, which makes it especially useful in imaging the brain, heart, and tumorscompared with other techniques.

According to the WHO and the Atlas of MS database initiative 6 % of African countries provide MRI machines for their national health care Systems while in eastern Europe the figure is 75% , 95% in western EU, South America 46% and 38% in Central America.

The distribution of MRI machines seems not appropriate with more than 1 MRI per 100,000 inhabitants in US or Italy and less than 0,1 MRI machine per 100, 000 in China or Argentina. LAst update of the database 2009.